Newslinks for Monday 27th October 2025 | Conservative Home

Billions wasted in migrant hotel chaos

“​​The Home Office has ‘squandered’ billions of pounds on asylum hotels, a damning report has found. MPs blasted the department’s ‘incompetence’ over its handling of a ‘failed, chaotic and expensive’ system. There was ‘manifest failure’ by the Home Office to ‘get a grip’ of contracts with private companies it appointed to house asylum seekers, they concluded. As a result, the firms had been allowed make ‘excessive profits’ from the Channel crisis. In one of the most damning reports ever published into the dysfunctional department, the MPs said the Home Office was ‘not up to this challenge’ and demanded a series of major changes. The Commons’ home affairs select committee said it was ‘inexplicable’ the Home Office did not require accommodation providers to assess the impact on local areas before opening migrant hotels. It had led to ‘some local services experiencing unsustainable pressures’, damaging community cohesion and allowing ‘misinformation and mistrust to grow’. Committee chair Dame Karen Bradley MP said: ‘The Home Office has presided over a failing asylum accommodation system that has cost taxpayers billions of pounds. Its response to increasing demand has been rushed and chaotic, and the department has neglected the day-to-day management of these contracts.’” – Daily Mail

• Billions ‘squandered on migrant hotels due to incompetence’ – The Times
• Blunders that shame ‘chaotic’ Home Office’s housing of asylum seekers… from wild overspending on migrant hotels to ignoring impact on local communities – Daily Mail
• Lammy faces backlash from prison governors after migrant fiasco – Daily Telegraph
• MI5 and MI6 fail to co-operate, redacted Home Office report found – The Times

Comment:

• Migrant prison farce proves the system is out of control – Chris Philp, Daily Telegraph
• This asylum shambles is the most shocking account of delinquency and fecklessness I’ve read in 20 years – David Barrett, Daily Mail

Tories look to water down ‘jobs killing’ workers’ rights bill

“The Conservatives have urged peers to back a last-ditch attempt to water down Labour’s workers’ rights reforms. The Employment Rights Bill will offer employees protection from unfair dismissal from day one in a job, rather than the current two years. The appeal comes after The Telegraph revealed that the Resolution Foundation think tank, which has close links to Labour, said the policy risked blighting the job prospects of millions of people while offering “little obvious gain to workers”. With the bill in its final parliamentary stages, the Conservatives urged peers to back a six-month threshold, something business groups and the Resolution Foundation have supported as a compromise. The Conservatives have opposed the legislation and have said they will repeal it if returned to office. Ahead of Tuesday’s Lords votes, shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith said: “At a time of rising unemployment and anaemic growth, Britain needs strength, not weakness. Keir Starmer simply doesn’t have the backbone to stand up to his trade union paymasters or take the tough decisions our country needs.”” – Daily Telegraph

• Workers rights bill and living wage rise ‘will lead to a jobs bloodbath’, Tories warn… as even left-leaning thinktank hits out at ‘day one’ protections – Daily Mail
• Bosses could still sack new hires under ‘day one’ workers’ rights compromise – The i
• Tories urge peers to back last-ditch changes to workers’ rights Bill – The Independent

Comment:

• Sir Keir Starmer MUST water down the proposed workers’ rights bill before it destroys the labour market – The Sun Says
• Rishi Sunak has just shown exactly why the Tories are doomed – Henry Hill, The i

Labour in political panic over Starmer, as Reeves and Streeting butt heads

“Labour MPs are discussing whether to trigger a leadership challenge against Sir Keir Starmer in a matter of weeks, citing growing concern over the party’s direction and its handling of the economy. May’s local elections, where Labour is expected to lose heavily, were being suggested as a trigger point for a leadership challenge. But a senior Labour source told The i Paper there was “a cohort in the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) who think moving against Keir after the Budget is feasible rather than waiting until after May” to stem the losses to the party’s election machine in the local elections. “The thinking is if you’re likely to lose a bunch of foot soldiers in the locals, you’ll have fewer people to support you holding on to your seat,” the source said. Labour’s historic defeat in the Welsh Parliament by-election has spurred the conversation on, they added… Labour strategists expect the May local and devolved assembly elections to be particularly challenging, with the party defending hundreds of seats gained during its peak in 2021 and facing voter frustration over slow progress on public services and the cost of living. Adding to those fears is the rise of Reform UK. A YouGov poll in September projected Nigel Farage’s party winning 311 seats if an election were held now – just 15 short of a parliamentary majority – with most of its gains coming at Labour’s expense. The comments come as Rachel Reeves faces growing pressure over next month’s Budget, which MPs fear could further erode support for the Government.” – The i

• Blow for Reeves after factory spending collapses to lowest since Brexit – Daily Telegraph
• Fury at Reeves’s mansion tax raid on homes: Chancellor is accused of ‘incoherent’ class war – Daily Mail
• Mansion tax idea is incoherent, ex-Bank governor tells Reeves – The Times
• NHS leaders warn of longer waiting times if demand for extra £3bn not met – The Guardian
• Record numbers give up on NHS to seek healthcare abroad – Daily Telegraph
• UK chancellor to hold Gulf trade talks in push for pro-growth policies – Financial Times

Comment

• The public will recoil at a mansion tax. Unlike the unpopular Labour Party, most voters don’t want class warfare – Stephen Glover, Daily Mail
• We must cut pensions to get Britain out of debt – even if it causes anguish – Roger Bootle, Daily Telegraph

News in brief:

• Why did it take so long to catch Hadush Kebatu? – Ian Acheson, Unherd
• Should Reeves raise income tax? – Michael Simmons, The Spectator
• How multiculturalism really works – Chris Bayliss, The Critic
• These are the City’s four key recommendations for the Budget – Chris Hayward, CityAM